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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Vegan Creamy Pasta

I love pasta with the alfredo sauce, but most of the time, avoid it because of the amount of calories and fat in the sauce. When thinking about an alternative, I came up with the idea of using mustard seeds and cashews in the place of butter and all purpose flour. I know many of you would make a face at the thought of using mustard seeds, even I had my doubts, but went ahead with the idea and believe me, it tasted really good, creamy and rich, finger lickin' good or should I say fork lickin'..Need To Have

Whole Grain Shells (Pasta) - 4 cups

Red Pepper ( Capsicum) - 1 diced

Mushrooms - 8 oz diced

Zucchini - 1 diced

Dry Basil - 3 teaspoons

Red Chilli Flakes - 1 teaspoon

Cashew Pieces - 2 tablespoons

Yellow Mustard Seeds - 2 teaspoons

Black Pepper - to taste

Method
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box ( for about 10 mins). Make a paste with the cashews and the mustard seeds. Heat some olive oil, add the red pepper, mushroom and the zucchini, saute for a few minutes. The vegetables should be half cooked but not mushy. Now add the basil, red chilly flakes and the paste, saute for a few more mins till the raw smell of the mustard seeds goes ( for about 5 mins). Finally mix in the pasta and serve warm with a dash of black pepper.

Note
The vegetables and pasta should not be over cooked.
I don't know whether you can use the store bought mustard sauce, because it contains ingredients other than mustard, try it and let me know.